DETROIT — The first mile marker in the compressed 48-game season is here for the Stars, and the reports from the field aren’t that great.

Dallas started the season with a challenging seven games in 11 nights and was anxious to see what this “new look” team might be able to achieve right off the hop. Well, following a 4-1 loss to the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday, Dallas is 2-4-1. That’s a pace that will have the Stars out of the playoffs for the fifth straight season.

“We battled hard tonight, and we probably deserved a better fate. I liked our effort,” said Stars general manager Joe Nieuwendyk. “But you have to get points, and you can’t get too far behind. So we’ll take this break, and we’ll keep pushing forward.”

If you want to ponder potential positivity, the team has only had Jamie Benn for two games and has not had a healthy top six in place for any one of the first seven games.

If you want to ruminate on the negative, Dallas has found different ways to lose. On Thursday, the Stars unraveled in the third period and couldn’t keep up with the speed against Chicago in a 3-2 overtime loss. On Saturday, they couldn’t defend in their own end in a 4-3 loss to St. Louis. They took too many penalties and left too many openings to Columbus on Monday.

And then they failed on the power play early and on the penalty kill late against Detroit.

The laundry list of problems seems to change each game.

“We have to take advantage of the chances we got in the first,” defenseman Stephane Robidas said. “The power play makes a difference in a lot of games, and you can’t miss out on too many opportunities.”

Dallas had four power-play chances in the first period and five for the game. The Stars didn’t score a man-advantage goal. Detroit, meanwhile, got its power plays later and cashed in on a 5-on-3 for the eventual game-winner.

It then built on that with two quick goals in the third period that eventually chased Kari Lehtonen from the game for some much needed rest.

“At the end of the day, we need results,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “But there were some good things here tonight in a back-to-back. We’re going to push, and we’re going to get to where we need to go.”

There are some things to believe in, despite the record. Lehtonen is proving to be a top-level goalie if he’s simply not worn out. The team does have great scoring depth if it is healthy. Kids like Cody Eakin and Brenden Dillon have been among the best players. Dallas even seemed to get a hold of the shot differential in these two games, only getting outshot by two against Columbus and one by Detroit.

But that’s damning with faint praise. The Stars have yet to outshoot an opponent this season.

And then there is the second night of back-to-back thing. Dallas was 1-11-2 in those situations last season and is 0-2-0 this year. With seven more back-to-backs (including this weekend against Phoenix), that has to be resolved.

But the Stars seem undeterred. They all spoke with hope Tuesday.

“We’re pushing forward,” Gulutzan said. “I’d rather go through our growing pains now and make a push at the end, so we’re going to keep pushing.”

Though Robidas added that fans and media can afford to panic, players can’t.

“We cannot sit here and start wondering how many points it will take to make the playoffs or what we have to do for the next seven games. That will drive you crazy,” he said. “What we have to do is concentrate on the next game, then do everything we can to win that one.”

The next one is Friday at home. The Stars get two days off to get ready. And then the next judging period begins.

“We need to take these days,” Loui Eriksson said, “and try to get better as a team.”

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